Holiday Mini-Sessions

Just one last call for any stragglers who would like to get in our our holiday mini-sessions on Friday. We have one morning spot left and can possibly squeeze in one or two at the end of the day if you’ve procrastinated and put off a holiday portrait session this year. Here are the details:

Sessions will last no more than 30 minutes. The goal is to get you an image to use for greeting cards, so each session is for photos with one grouping (whether it’s one child, one family, siblings, etc.). Your session fee is a toy donation that Ryan and I will pass along to Toys for Tots.

The following week, a few images from your mini-session will go online along with a few pre-designed greeting card templates. Any 5×7 folded greeting cards that you order from this event will be 10% off with the option of a free paper/texture upgrade. You’ll have a week to place any orders and those cards will be all ready for you to send out before Christmas arrives!

Ryan and I will obviously be out of the office tomorrow to be with family, but we’ll be sure to check into our e-mail when we settle in at the end of the day. Confirmation will be sent to the first request that we receive and after that, we’ll try to squeeze in what we can at the end of the day. And for those who have already signed up, please be sure to arrive on time and have everyone dressed and ready to go. We’ve got a packed studio with all of these sets and will be keeping a tight schedule to be sure everyone gets the most out of their time with us!

Have a safe & happy holiday…we hope to see you soon!

Home for the Holiday

In my mind, tomorrow is it. The holiday season begins and remains for the rest of the year! Miss A’s grandma & grandpa came in from Rhode Island to visit for Thanksgiving which made for the perfect time to photograph memories to span the generations. For the next thirty-some days, the world will slow down (while oddly filling up with hustle & bustle at the same time), and families connect. Here’s wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving…I hope you get to spend lots of time with those you love!

Urban Baby

This afternoon we celebrated beautiful babyhood. Mr. G. is a hip little guy with super chunky thighs, dimples & massive blue eyes. It’s crazy to think that in just a few months he’ll be up and walking, thinning out and growing into a child. Life moves so fast…enjoy these precious moments while they’re here!

Memory

My heart is crying tonight. We’ve lost one of the greatest warriors in the fight against breast cancer. For Stefanie; mother, wife and a healing soul.

Holiday Fever

Seeing this brother/sister donned in red and snuggled up in plaids and corduroy has me even more anxious for the holiday season to be here. And, boy, were they were filled with that warm holiday spirit! Mr. J. was peaking around the corner of a sofa with an ornery little grin upon his face. And Miss M. was nothing but giggles! I asked her if she had a best friend, and can you guess her answer? “Mommy!” That just melts the heart…

November Love

Have I mentioned that I love my job? Photographing couples is one of my favorite things to do and tonight was no exception. We couldn’t leave out the “kids”, and they wouldn’t have let me even if I tried! Whenever I’d try to get Sam & Bennie in a photo, they just wanted to play. Then, if I was preparing for a “couple only” photo, you can sure bet they wanted nothing more than to be in the photo! And when all of the people-variety left the fenced in backyard, would you believe that Bennie & Sam would not only gaze at us over the edge of the fence, but Bennie would even toss her ball over the edge into the driveway, just begging for us to keep playing with her. What a sweet family!

Family

Life is such a treasure. JJ was inspired by a lost friend to take the time to preserve memories of her family. From an outside perspective, giant chess pieces, spam & piles of feet may not seem to have a lot in common, but these are the simple things in life that not only define a family, but makes each an every one a unique gift. Enjoy the sneak of this amazing family!

November Evening

What a splendid November evening! Tonight it was just chilly enough to pile on a few layers, but beautiful, sunny and inviting. We get several requests for sessions during periods of time when the leaves are still on the trees (May-October), but this is a wonderful example of how gorgeous Ohio is all year round (mind you, having such a beautiful family is really helping with the scenery here!).

Holiday Hop

This is going to be one massive blog post! First, thanks to everyone who came out for this month’s Gallery Hop. We had over 100 kids and parents coming through our doors to see a color explosion of artwork. Here are a few snapshots from the evening.


Come out and visit us December 5th for our very first Holiday Hop (perhaps the biggest Gallery Hop event for the Short North throughout the year). I photographed the artwork for December’s Hop, updating a simple black and white study of orchids from a few years back to now present a series studying organic texture and muted colors. Of course coming out for food and specials will be a big perk as well (more details to come). Here’s a preview of next month’s exhibit.

And speaking of the holidays, we’ve had several sign-ups for our Greeting Card Mini’s later this month. There are still a few spots left; e-mail Ryan for more details and to reserve a session. In the meantime, here’s what we’re working on for four different holiday sets in case you’re trying to figure out how to dress the kids. Holiday card templates will be designed around these for you to choose from.

Gallery Hop Tonight!

Just sharing a sampling of what we have going on for this evening’s Gallery Hop. Feel free to stop by the studio between 4-10pm here at 139 East 2nd Ave., Columbus. We’ve got our space nearly wallpapered by various art projects from the students at St. Joseph’s Montessori School. This is definitely our most colorful exhibit yet!

Also, if you think your school would be interested in holding an art show in our space don’t hesitate to get in touch!

One

Happy Birthday Miss A!!!

When I first get back to my home or studio to begin uploading the images after a session, I skim through everything to pull out a few photos for the blog. I don’t necessarily pull out the best from the session, or even my favorites; just whatever I happen to be drawn to at that particular moment. Well today I did everything as usual and I discovered that little A. has one of the most classic-looking baby faces I’ve seen. I played around with tone and texture from image to image, but otherwise you’ll see a very unique, monochromatic slideshow. Today I put the vibrant color box away and am enjoying A’s classic beauty!

Sister and Brother

I had a chunk-a-licious session today with this 6 month old cutie and his big sister, S. She cracks me up every time I photograph her. You can probably tell that she’s an amazing little girl, because not only is she on the splash page of my site, but she’s also the very first image in our “Somber Souls” gallery and featured across the top banner of our Studio9 site! I’m anticipating big things for her brother, L., as well, after he poured on the charm in today’s session. Enjoy the preview!

Looking for a Home

Just wanted to post these sweet pictures of Batman. His human mommy has developed severe allergies and Batty needs to find a new home. He lives with three children right now (1-5 years old) and would love to find another home just as loving! Here’s some more information:

One our of Bully Breed Program graduates is looking for a new home.
Batman currently lives with a young couple and their 3 children
(approx. ages 1 year, 3 years and 5 years). Batman has been living
with this family since February of this year and has been a wonderful
addition to the family and a joy to the children. Unfortunately,
Batty’s human Mom has developed severe allergies to him that she has
not been able to overcome. So we are looking for a new home for him
ASAP.

Batman is approx. 2-3 years old, neutered and up to date on his
vaccinations. He weighs about 60 pounds. Batty lived successfully
with other dogs in his original foster home, though we aren’t sure
about his compatibility with cats (his current home has no other
pets). He’s housebroken and crate-trained.

Batty is truly one of the most special dogs to come through our
Program. He’s very intelligent, very confident and therefore very
steady. He does great with kids (so we were very happy to see him go
to a family with children).

If you’d like more information about Batman, please e-mail us so we can forward you the appropriate contact information. Please share this post with anyone you think may make for a good family for Batty!

Saturday Gallery Hop

We are so incredibly excited for our November Gallery Hop night. Come on out to the studio this Saturday between 4-10pm to see original artworks by art students at St. Joseph Montessori. (These photos were sent to us to show the kids working on their pieces.) This is going to be a match made in Heaven. Not only is St. Joseph’s just across the street from our studio, but I think the color and energy of our space will be a perfect fit to display the creativity of a child. We’re so excited by this, that for 2010 & 2011, Ryan and I are hoping to move the focus of our Gallery Hop nights to feature more children’s artwork. If your school is interested in using our space for a show, just get in touch with Ryan for availability and details.

Otherwise, we’re located at 139 E. 2nd Ave., Columbus, just a block East of High Street near the Short North. We’d love to see you this Saturday!

Senior and Horses

I’m a few weeks behind on sharing images from this senior session. It was such a dark evening (raindrops were falling during most of our session & a downpour hit on my car ride home). But that, mixed with this young woman’s intense eyes and soulful expressions, made for such lovely, moody images. Also, I’d never photographed with multiple horses before, but I’m already looking forward to the next opportunity. What elegant creatures!

It’s a Beautiful Day

This is starting to feel like my second family. I’ve seen A. and her parents three times in less than a week! We tried to get together for this session a few days ago, but dark clouds and raindrops shooed me away. And yesterday this little Foofah from Yo Gabba Gabba came out to the studio for our Halloween sessions (photo below). Isn’t she cute!?! Thankfully, the stars aligned for today’s session. The sun was shining, leaves were sparkling and, as always, this family was such a delight to work with!

Strength

What a fitting end to October’s blog posts. I’m sure you’ve been seeing pink everywhere you go during Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Today’s session was a celebration of life and strength for C. and her family as she battles this awful disease. And, if you can even comprehend this, her husband is also living with cancer (bone marrow). But this family is strong. You would not believe the amount of positive energy they exude. It was an honor to photograph this family of warriors!

In the Leaves

Check out how adorable these kids are! When I came upon Miss M. in the parking lot she flashed her dimples, waved a hand and called out “Hi Amy!” (which really sounded more like “Hiamee!”). Then Mr. C showed me his Bob the Builder toy and started chattering on about the cutest things. Instead of tossing their handfuls of leaves straight up in the air, most of them ended up piling right on top of their heads!

Enjoy the preview, and make sure you get out there to play in some leaves yourself!

Fall Family

If you could bottle up a cup full of fun with a dash of silly sprinkles and drizzle in a bit of warm spirit, this family is exactly what you’d come up with. By the end of tonight’s cloudy session I was practically rolling with laughter from these kids’ crazy athletic endeavors (for the record, I think watching bush jumping would be much more entertaining than hurdle jumping…there’s the whole bounce factor when you don’t clear the surface)!

…and action!

This may possibly be the most laid back trio I’ve ever photographed. We had some fun throwing leaves and jumping in the air, but these siblings seemed so much more natural when striking a pose and showing off those big blue eyes. They even performed out in the rain, just like an authentic set of models!

Enjoy the sneak peeks!